Tamiya Spitfire MK XVIe

[Peterpools]

Kai, thank you and so greatly appreciate your very kind words on my builds and photography. I built the Mossie when she first came out and what a tremendous kit. I just wish Papa Tamiya would do the next version but I'm sure cost and sales numbers put a halt on that.

The Spit is a joy to build and while one of Tamiya's older 32nd scale WWII fighter lines, just has no vices. Painted the prop, hub assembly and gear this morning, making progress and hoping to do another update later this week. 

 

[BlrwestSiR]

Fantastic work on the Spitfire Peter. Can't wait to see it with camo on. 

I found a PCM IX with the XVI conversion at my LHS. I'm tempted to grab it and use the conversion on their XIV kit instead and make a low back XIV.

Carl 

 

[Martinnfb]

Impeccably  clean work Peter. Simply superb. 

[mark31]

looks good with the primer on

Cant wait to see the paint on

I hope to get some bench time soon but with the temprature around the 35C you cant do anything model related.

Mark

[Peterpools]

Thanks Carl, very much appreciated. I finished all the re-do work this afternoon and the Spit should be rolling into the paint shop later this week.

The conversion sounds like quite a project and I would be the first one front and center to follow the build.

 

[Peterpools]

Martin

Very much appreciate your kind words on the Spit. 

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Mark

The paint shop should be by the end of the week as all the prep work has now been finished. It's hot here as well and thank goodness for AC. 

 

[JohnB]

I look forward to seeing it when the paintings done. Gonna be a beauty! (Hot here also. Yesterday's high was 103.)

John

[Peterpools]

John

Way too hot for me. I'm a 65-75 F guy,

 

 

[JohnB]

1 hour ago, Peterpools said:

John

Way too hot for me. I'm a 65-75 F guy,

 

 

Me too Peter!

[kahunaminor]

Another great display of craftsmanship Peter,

I am enjoying following your work. I too have this kit and it languishes at about the same stage as yours did on the bottom of page 2 for the past 6 years! I hit the same hurdle with the wing inserts and without neither mojo nor room, consigned it to the shelf of procrastination. The build log can be found in my signature block (complete with photobucket watermarks). I have recently added some new display cabinets which allow me to display my 1/32 builds. Your build has stirred the pot and I think I am now ready to continue.

Thanks for the opportunity and I look forward to seeing further work on this one.

Regards,

Kent

[Peterpools]

Kent

Very much appreciate the kind comments on my Spitfire build. I'm so glad I helped stir the mojo juices and your Spitfire isd back on the bench and underway again.

Just followed the link to your Spit build and Holy Cow, the detailing and build is first class and wonderfully done.  I'm looking forward to following your progress.

 

[KevinM]

Hey I drove by and the paint shop and it is open for business!!!!Time to Get to work

[Peterpools]

Kev

Glad you drove by and hoped the AC in the car was going full blast. Should have stopped and we could have done some hanger flying.

 

 

[Peterpools]

FIRST PITFALL

Started the cammo and after the upper surfaces were done; I fell off my chair - Migs colors just didn't look right to me at all. The Ocean Gray had a distinct bluish tint and the dark green was too light and a bit too lively; just didn't sit right with me. All the lights on my bench are 5000K Daylight and the recessed ceiling lights are 5000K LEDs - so the room illumination (Color Balance) wasn't the cause. I compared the Mig colors to my Tamiya Mossie and Spit Mk IXc and they confirmed for me, the Mig colors aren't the same and not what I wanted.   

I decided to repaint the Spit and of course, I didn't have the Tamiya paints needed in my stash: XF-1 Dark Green, XF-82 Ocean Gray & XF-83 Medium Sea Gray and neither of my go to venders had all three and I wasn't going to pay for shipping twice. I wound up ordering AK Real Colors (lacquer) and will need to repaint when they arrive hopefully by mid-week. I've decided not to strip the Spit back to plastic as most of the filler I used was Mr Surfacer and I normally strip paint with Self Leveling Thinners and that would eat into the Mr Surfacer. So, the plan is to just lightly wet sand the top colors back and repaint from there. 

There still is a lot of detail paint work to do, so on with the show. I haven't taken any photos of the Spit in this stage as it's a bit too painful. I'm only going on my feel for the colors and wanting to keep my collection of consistent.

 

[HubertB]

Bummer, Peter. I just hope that AK and Mig are not just the same under a different name (which is a way of saying I believe they are from the same stable - but of course I can, hopefully, be wrong)

Hubert

[JohnB]

2 hours ago, Peterpools said:

FIRST PITFALL

Started the cammo and after the upper surfaces were done; I fell off my chair - Migs colors just didn't look right to me at all. The Ocean Gray had a distinct bluish tint and the dark green was too light and a bit too lively; just didn't sit right with me. All the lights on my bench are 5000K Daylight and the recessed ceiling lights are 5000K LEDs - so the room illumination (Color Balance) wasn't the cause. I compared the Mig colors to my Tamiya Mossie and Spit Mk IXc and they confirmed for me, the Mig colors aren't the same and not what I wanted.   

I decided to repaint the Spit and of course, I didn't have the Tamiya paints needed in my stash: XF-1 Dark Green, XF-82 Ocean Gray & XF-83 Medium Sea Gray and neither of my go to venders had all three and I wasn't going to pay for shipping twice. I wound up ordering AK Real Colors (lacquer) and will need to repaint when they arrive hopefully by mid-week. I've decided not to strip the Spit back to plastic as most of the filler I used was Mr Surfacer and I normally strip paint with Self Leveling Thinners and that would eat into the Mr Surfacer. So, the plan is to just lightly wet sand the top colors back and repaint from there. 

There still is a lot of detail paint work to do, so on with the show. I haven't taken any photos of the Spit in this stage as it's a bit too painful. I'm only going on my feel for the colors and wanting to keep my collection of consistent.

 

Always something! I'm sure you will get this sorted out soon Peter and get that Spit done! 🤪

[Peterpools]

44 minutes ago, HubertB said:

Bummer, Peter. I just hope that AK and Mig are not just the same under a different name (which is a way of saying I believe they are from the same stable - but of course I can, hopefully, be wrong)

Hubert

Hubert

I sure hope they aren't as the Mig paints are water based acrylics and the AK are acrylic lacquers. My biggest problem with the Mig paints were the colors and from what I can see online, AK colors seem a lot closer to what I am looking for and match Tamiya really closely. See what happens when they show up this week ... fingers crossed.

 

[Peterpools]

John

Thanks and you're right, it's always something. I'm pretty sure I can sand back the paint and be ready for the AK lacquers when they show up this week. Painted and lightly weathered the gear, prop and drop-down door assemblies and trying to just get all the smaller sub-assemblies done and ready.

  

[JohnB]

3 minutes ago, Peterpools said:

John

Thanks and you're right, it's always something. I'm pretty sure I can sand back the paint and be ready for the AK lacquers when they show up this week. Painted and lightly weathered the gear, prop and drop-down door assemblies and trying to just get all the smaller sub-assemblies done and ready.

  

Yes indeed, there's always other areas to keep busy on while waiting for paint or whatever! As I well know. LOL

[Peterpools]

19 minutes ago, JohnB said:

Yes indeed, there's always other areas to keep busy on while waiting for paint or whatever! As I well know. LOL

😉

[Peterpools]

BACKTRACKING AND THEN MAKING PROGRESS AGAIN

Backtraking

The two upper fuselage cammo colors were on and done and I felt something was wrong. The Migs colors just didn't look right to me, as the Ocean Gray had a distinct bluish tint and the dark green was too light and a bit too lively. All the lights on my bench are 5000K Daylight and the recessed ceiling lights are 5000K Daylight LEDs as well - so the room illumination (Color Balance) wasn't the cause. I compared the Mig colors to my Tamiya Mossie and Spit Mk IXc and they confirmed for me, the Mig colors aren't the same and not what I wanted. I wanted the colors to be the same or very close, as both. were painted using Tamiya acrylic paints.

Of course, I didn’t have the paints in my stash and couldn’t find all three from either of my go to venders and ordered AK Real Colors lacquers as my next choice. I've decided not to strip the Spit back to plastic as most of the filler I used was Mr Surfacer, as I normally strip paint with Self Leveling Thinners and that would eat into the Mr Surfacer. So, the plan is to just lightly wet sand the top colors back and repaint from there. 

The Prop & Hub

The prop blades needed a wee bit of clean up, then were, primed and then painted with Tamiya LP-5 Semi Black, which laid down super smooth. Of course, someday I’ll remember to paint the tips yellow first and save myself a lot of work. The tips now needed to be masked and painted with MRP Insignia White FS17875, followed up with Mr Color 329 Yellow. Going to take a mulligan as a senior moment.

 Since I wasn’t going to have the spinner assembly removable or left off, I couldn’t see any reason to do any detail painting on the Hub as virtually nothing will be seen. The Hub assembly was painted with Alclad ALC 116 Semi Matt Aluminum followed up with a pin wash of Tamyia Dark Brown Panel Line Accent Color to pick out the details (have no idea why I even did this much).

The Spinner

 I had already deepened all the screw holes on the spinner, so they would hold a pin wash. The spinner and back plate were primed, air brushed with Mig Sky Type S and followed up with Mr Color #46 Clear Gloss. All the screw holes were picked out with Tamiya Black Panel Line Wash and when dry, a final clear coat of Alclad 311 Light Sheen.

The Gear.

The kit’s wheels and tires were replaced with a resin set from Barracuda. The center of the wheel had to be drilled out so the axel would fit snuggly in place. Primed with MRP Black Primer and then the wheels air brushed with Alclad ALC 101 Aluminum. The tires were finished off in Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black and sealed with Alclad ALC 312 Clear Semi Matt.

Gear doors and Struts

Assembled and primed. The oleos were air brushed with Tamiya LP1 Gloss Black, followed up with Alclad Chrome and when dry, masked off. The gear doors and main gear were air brushed with Mig Medium Sea Gray, followed up with Tamiya Clear gloss lacquer, a pin wash with Tamiya Black Panel Line and then sealed with Alclad  ALC  311 Semi Matt Sheen. The kit rubber brake lines (yes, real rubber) and oleo scissors (drilled out) were added.

Drop Down Cockpit Door

As with the wheels and tires, I discarded the kit part and used Barracuda’s beautiful resin casting, with sharper details, a separate crow bar and offered two styles of door stencil decals, in two colors. I went with the black center section stencil data one and painted the crow bar aluminum, which is correct for this mark and time period.  Still to be added is the hinge on the upper ledge of the door fastening it to the fuselage.

A lot of work for a small number of parts.

Thanks for checking in.

I normally do not like to post macro images as the part or assembly is being viewed unrealistically and as we would not see them in the flesh.

The Prop Assembly is only being test fitted and nothing committed to glue yet. Propblade decals still need to be added, 

The Drop Down Door still needs the resin hing added and a bit more cleanup

 

[BlrwestSiR]

Looks great Peter. Sorry to hear about the colour issues with the Mig paints. If you haven't used them before, the AK ones spray very similar to the Tamiya but need a bit more thinning. They do have a much flatter finish though. 

Carl

[Peterpools]

Thanks Carl

It's my own fault and I should have tested the Mig paints color wise to double check and didn't. Much appreciate the heads up on the AK Real Colors as I have never used them before. When the arrive later this week, I'll do a quick test to see how they align with the Tamiya paints in color before committing.

.  

[DocRob]

What a nightmare Peter, I hate, when fails like that happen to me. I never liked redoing, at least not when it comes to repaint an entire plane. I try to prepare myself as best, as I can, but yes, there are always the tiny trapdoors on the way. 
I hope with the new colors, you will achieve a satisfying result, as the fine detail painting indicates. I have AK paints from the real color range and from their acrylic range for RAF future builds along some Tamiya colors. I will test cautiously before applying.

As for AK and Ammo of Mig, Mig Jiminez found these comapanies, first Mig, then AK, which was run by Vallejo and last Ammo of Mig. If I remember right, MIG Jiminez parted with AK in controversy and AK was on it's own since then.

Cheers Rob